If you think ordinary hurricanes are scary, buckle up: scientists have now created a very powerful hurricane that resembles a black hole. We wonder why Giant Vortex mimics black holes so well and could create great opportunities in black hole research.

An experimental study published in the journal Nature, It created something never seen before: a quantum tornado. Essentially, while a normal hurricane shatters and bends trees and houses, a quantum hurricane twists atoms and particles.

To make the tornado mimic a black hole, researchers had to use helium in its “superfluid” state; this meant that it had low viscosity and could flow without any resistance. These properties allow scientists to closely observe how helium interacts with the environment. This led them to discover that tiny ripples on the surface of the liquid mimic the gravitational conditions around rotating black holes.

So how did they do this? First, the team led by the University of Nottingham needed to achieve the correct properties of the liquid. This involved cooling several liters of superfluid helium to the lowest possible temperatures, below -271°C.

Normally, tiny objects called “quantum vortices” inside liquid helium radiate from each other. But at this new ultra-cold temperature, liquid helium acquires quantum properties that stabilize them. Using a new cryogenic device, researchers were able to trap tens of thousands of these tiny objects to create a tornado-like “vortex flow.”

The successful experiment creates new opportunities for scientists to simulate their theories about distorted space-time and gravity; Researchers will be able to compare interactions in a simulated black hole with their own theoretical predictions.

“When we first observed clear signs of black hole physics in our original analog experiment in 2017, it was a groundbreaking moment for understanding some strange phenomena that are often difficult, if not impossible, to study otherwise,” said Professor Silke Weinfurtner. He leads work at the Black Hole Laboratory, where this experiment was developed.

“Now, with our more complex experiments, we have taken this research to the next level, which may eventually lead us to predict how quantum fields behave in the distorted space-time around astrophysical black holes.”